


Gulf Coast International Wrestling: A Primer

by AnvilPro



Series: Gulf Coast International Wrestling [1]
Category: Professional Wrestling
Genre: Gulf Coast International Wrestling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 16:31:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10994691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnvilPro/pseuds/AnvilPro
Summary: In 2011 I found a box of tapes of a professional wrestling show I had never heard of: Gulf Coast International Wrestling. It took me years but I finally was able to find the results of every single show, so I'm going to go from show to show recapping and reviewing each episode of this truly unique wrestling promotion.





	Gulf Coast International Wrestling: A Primer

I've been a fan of professional wrestling since I was born in 1989. I was born to parents who had met watching WWF shows in that early 80s, and have been watching ever since. And as I grew and gained access to the internet I found more wrestling federations to enjoy, from Impact Wrestling to Ring of Honor to New Japan Pro Wrestling and everything I can find online. But my personal favorite federation was one that took years of research in order to put together all of its illusive history. 

On a trip to my local pawn shop, I found a box full of mostly unlabeled VHS tapes. The ones that were labeled were for old episodes of Monday Night Raw, so I felt safe in assuming they all were for WWE shows of some kind. This happened back in 2011 and the days of the WWE Network were a far off dream, so I bought the box of tapes to enjoy some nostalgia of the early days of the Monday Night Wars.  

The unlabeled tapes were not WWF tapes, they were of something called "Gulf Coast International Wrestling". 

The tapes I found were of March to August of 2000, though in my research of it I found the federation began in 1964, and seemingly ended in 2004 following the death of owner, founder, booker and sole commentator Jay Garrison. I do not use the term "research" lightly here, after initially finding the tapes I went online to see if there was a Wikipedia page or some form of website for the GCIW, but there was nothing. The closest I could find were long abandoned forum posts about seeing posters for a "ridiculously bad looking" local show, most focusing on then-Gulf Coast Champion Sparky the Wonderdog. In order to complete the library of tapes I had to track down friends and relatives of Jay Garrison, and was even able to find a few of the wrestlers who I was able to get notes from on shows that weren't filmed. 

The tapes' quality are abysmal. I considered transferring them to DVD to try and get them online, but most are too damaged or in bad quality to make the cost and effort worth it. Also several of the wrestlers I spoke to seemed to want to distance themselves from the company, so I was asked to keep the tapes to myself or at least not use their real names. I do still want the legacy of Gulf Coast International Wrestling online in some way, so I have decided to record the events and results of each show in written form so that at least some people can find out what happened in "Gulf Country". 

Before I do get into the show itself, I do want to give a short primer on what makes the GCIW so different from any professional wrestling promotion I have ever seen before. If you are a fan of professional wrestling who uses their free time to look up old stories about mysterious companies, you probably already know how a show is built backstage. A booker puts the match together and decides the outcome, a writer writes the script wrestlers use during non-wrestling segments and a road agent's job is to put the action in the ring together. In general, all outcomes are predetermined to move the planned story forward.  

Gulf Coast International Wrestling completely and utterly averts this tradition. The only thing booked in each show is what matches will happen and who will be given time to cut a promo, all wrestling (including winners and losers) was to be improvised until one competitor cannot make it up during the referee's count. Athletes still use finishing maneuvers and even weapons, but there is no attempt to keep their opponent safe as they want to win the match.  

You may be wondering why the company would use such a risky style of performance. The answer to that question, as many of the questions created by GCIW, are answered by understanding what kind of a person Jay Garrison was. Garrison was 24 when he began the promotion, and had already retired wealthy from after some lucky investments. Garrison chose to use his money to open up his own wrestling federation, forbidding pre-planning due to finding it "boring". In speaking to some of the people who worked under him, I think he actually did not understand that wrestling was fake and what kayfabe was. 

As for why wrestlers would work in such a dangerous style to themselves and their coworkers, the answer is that Jay Garrison treated his workers very, very well. As said earlier the promotion was all over the Americas, and Garrison made sure that his roster only flew first class and stayed in the best places. If a wrestler could manage to keep up with the potentially grueling work, they would be treated better than 95% of wrestlers in the world. Also, after one or two years of service, Garrison would give workers a steady paycheck for the rest of their lives, even if the worker immediately abandoned ship after being told they would.  

However, in my research, the truth of why people would stay with the company for up to 40 whole years was because they simply liked it. The GCIW could be the most dangerous wrestling promotion in the world (Just wait to hear about _Untelevised_ ), but would always be the most difficult challenge possible. The regulars of GCIW were there not for the money or fame, they were there because they wanted to prove themselves the best wrestlers in the world. Wrestlers like Captain Beige, Kyle Robinson, Ryan King, Tabitha Taylor, Friday, Missile 4orce, Drugville, Frank, The Venetian Vampire, Sparky the Wonderdog. These men, women and other could never have been as successful or dominant if they hadn't been given the perfect canvas on which to perform their art. 

This was Gulf Coast International Wrestling, and it was quite the ride. 


End file.
